Centric Consulting Cleveland: Staying True to Core Values

Centric Cleveland was a business unit of Centric Consulting, a full-service management consulting and technology solutions firm. The firm had been founded with the intention of being different from other consulting firms with regard to building internal and external relationships, developing and supporting employees, adjusting for work-life balance, and being devoted to community service. But in 2015, Centric Cleveland was experiencing rapid growth, which was challenging the company’s ability to sustain its unique corporate culture. How could Centric Cleveland sustain its culture and core values as it grew and gained more employees? What changes needed to be made to meet rising expectations for personal well-being and meaningfulness among millennials and generation Z hires? When culture was becoming a popular selling feature to potential new hires in the consulting sector, what could Centric Cleveland do to remain unique and stay competitive?

This teaching case is designed to introduce graduate and undergraduate business students to the challenges of maintaining and expanding a positive culture as a company grows. In particular, the case illustrates how small- to medium-sized consulting firms can apply practices to sustain positive culture and encourage flourishing in their organizations and among their individual employees. After discussing this case, students are expected to be able to do the following:<ul><li>Understand the benefits and influence of well-being practices and positive routines and a culture of caring applied at the individual and organizational levels.</li><li>Evaluate well-being and other mindfulness practices and positive routines as they are used in the work-intensive consulting industry environment, which may result in employees and the entire organization flourishing.</li><li>Identify how Centric Cleveland could incorporate such practices into its culture in order to sustain its employees’ well-being and retain the company’s competitive advantage.</li><li>Explore the trade-off between a programmatic approach to company culture and a more organic or self-motivated cultural atmosphere.</li></ul>

• Culture, consulting, flourishing, employee engagement